The 1.25-inch, backlit LCD is one of the smallest we've seen on a microdrive-based player; in comparison, the iPod Mini has a 1.7-inch screen. But with the decent backlighting (which fades out) and a well-organized interface, it's not really an issue. Still, there's room for a larger, easier-to-read display.
To the right of the LCD is a five-way joystick (dubbed the Thumbstick) that works well in four of five directions. The joystick, along with the embedded Rio software interface, makes diving in and out of menu choices and controlling the player a real breeze. Unfortunately, the joystick's fifth direction--pushing straight down to act as a Select button--registers only about 25 percent of the time, so you're constantly activating the wrong function. There are several menu items that require a downward push of the joystick, and it's completely frustrating when something as simple as a controller doesn't work. For those of us here at CNET, the M500's lame joystick is a deal buster. It's a real shame, too, given the M500's light but solid feature set and its awesome battery life.
Speaking of batteries, the one in the M500 is removable. Pressing the lone button on the left spine unlocks the back cover that hides the lithium-ion battery. The only other physical highlights are dedicated volume buttons, a hold switch, and a USB port, which is guarded by an attached rubber cover that does not easily stay closed, let alone sit flush with the player.
The M500 ships with a clear plastic belt clip, a hand strap, standard earbud headphones, a wall wart-style power adapter that plugs into the M500's USB port (the player can be charged via USB, too), a software CD, and an iTips Smart Connector. Bonus: the player comes preloaded with 20 Billboard Hot Tracks.
As mentioned earlier, the menu interface is straightforward when it comes to main menu items: Play Music, Bookmarks, Settings, FM Tuner, FM Record, Stopwatch, and About. Conveniently, the first option under Play Music is Play All. You can also browse and play music by album, artist, genre, track, year, new music, playlist, spoken word, and FM recordings.
There are some basic setting options such as shuffle and repeat for playback and FM stereo/mono or FM regions selection, but overall, the choices are pretty basic. Again, the Thumbstick draws harsh criticism from us because it's a frustrating controller to use when adjusting various player settings.
The M500 will show up as a drive letter in Windows XP and Mac OS X. You can drag and drop files, utilize Windows Media Player 10.0, or use the included Motorola Music Manager software. There's a plug-in available for Mac users who wish to go with iTunes.
The M500 can also handle file transfers quickly at a rate of 2.9MB per second over USB 2.0. The astounding statistic for us, though, is the M500's battery life, which clocked in at more than 35 hours in CNET Labs' tests, 10 hours more than Motorola's rating. The closest player in the microdrive category is the Rio Carbon at 20 hours.
So we mentioned "occasional software glitches." Once, while attached via USB to our PC, the M500 just stopped working. We tried everything in the book to revive it--turning the power on and off, pulling out the battery, blowing on it--all to no avail. The next day, it booted up. We've read online about similar behavior, so caveat emptor!
General:
Product type:
Microdrive
PC interface(s) supported:
USB
Digital storage:
5 GB Hard disk drive
Digital player supported digital audio standards:
MP3
,
WMA
,
Audible
Dimensions (W x D x H):
3.3 in x 0.7 in x 2.5 in
Battery technology:
Lithium ion
Mfr estimated battery life:
25 hour(s)
Included accessories:
Belt clip
Software type:
Drivers & Utilities
Product Basic Spec:
Dimensions (W x D x H):
3.3 in x 0.7 in x 2.5 in
Audio system built-in display:
LCD
Equalizer type:
Digital graphic
Equalizer factory presets:
Pop
,
Jazz
,
Rock
,
Trance
,
Classic
Tuner type:
Digital Radio tuner
Headphones type:
Binaural Ear-bud
Cable(s) included:
USB cable -
Battery:
Lithium ion Rechargeable Player battery
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